The Rand has kicked off Tuesday as one of the weaker performing Emerging Market currencies currently sitting at R13.66 to the US dollar. Despite the weaker Rand, markets continued to trend weaker on Monday.
Here are some of the news stories from the small and mid-cap space on Monday which caught our eye:
New Highs:
Logistics group Onelogix hit a new 52-week high while electronics player Altron continues to trade at the top of its range for the same period. Onelogix was up 9% on thin volumes closing at R4.80, putting it on a forward PE of 11 and offering a 2.5% dividend yield.
New Lows:
On the other side of the equation, Invicta, Metair, Micromega and Dis-Chem hit new 52-week lows. Metair is one of the businesses that investors are starting to watch closely with the share price weakness being attributed to its offshore expansion plans. Metair trades on a price to earnings multiple of 5.5 and offers a 4.6% dividend yield.
Stellar goes under cautionary
The investment holding group looks set for a shake up with the company announcing it was going under cautionary to respond to a number of expressions of interest in various group assets. The company has received offers to buy out its stake Amecor as well as to bring onboard an empowerment shareholder in its Prescient business. Stellar currently trades at 62c/share with a reported Net Asset Value of R1.12/share.
PPC staging a recovery
Once the darling of the JSE, PPC has faced a variety of headwinds over the last couple of years (shares down 75% over the period). The Pan-African cement and building materials supplier reported full year for the year ended March 2018 with revenue up 7% to R10.3bn and headline earnings per share up 114% to 10c/share. Operations in Zimbabwe and Rwanda were positive contributors to the bottom line.
Raubex warns on SA conditions
Shares in Raubex slid nearly 5% on Monday as the company warned earnings are likely to fall by at least 20% for the 6 months ended August 2018. The company told shareholders: “This decrease is a result of continued weak conditions in the South African construction industry, particularly in the road construction sector, where lower SANRAL spend is now impacting Raubex subsidiaries both in the road construction operations and in the road rehabilitation and maintenance operations, which includes the supply of asphalt and bitumen to the market. The Company is currently reviewing its operations exposed to the South African road construction sector and has embarked on rightsizing initiatives to reduce capacity in line with the current low level of demand being experienced.”
Invicta slides
Shares in Invicta dropped out 8% after the company released full year financial results after reporting an 81% decline in headline earnings, accounting for a R400m tax provision.
Niveus continues tidy up
Listed gaming group Niveus has confirmed that all conditions have now been met for the disposal of its non sports betting and lottery investments (Gameco) to Tsogo Sun. Niveus shares are down 64% year to date.
MC Mining rises
Shares in the business formerly known as Coal of Africa rose 6.5% on Monday on the back of 9850 shares changing hands, with the share closing at R3.76. This was on the back of an interdict being lifted to allow the company to pursue operations relating to the Makhado project in Limpopo.
